Centrifugally engaged clutch



Dec. 22, 1953 Filed May 28, 1948 A. W. WAGNER CENTRIFUGALLY ENGAGED CLUTCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. ARTHUR W. WAGNER m Adm A TTOR'NEY.

Dec. 22, 1953 A. w. WAGNER 2,663,396

CENTRIFUGALLY ENGAGED CLUTCH Filed May 28, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR. ARTHUR W WAGNER A TTOIFNE).

Patented Dec. 22, 1953 QENTRIFUGALLY ENGAGED CLUTCH Arthur W, Wagner; Mi w kee, Wis., assi nor to Easy Power Incorporated, llllilwaukoe,v Wis.,, a cor oration of W sconsin Application May 28, 1948 Serial No. 29,709

3 Q a ms- My invention rclatos to clutches and more. par o larly to a salt -ad ust n tyne oi iriction clutch.

The object r my invention, is to provide a devi e to. aot s. a moan tor irictionallv driv n one d v y an thordcv co acting as an actu tins moansnot r bioot oi ve tion is to gradually o ide riotiohai nsagomont in the. form of a tc y o driv unit; with he. driven ni t ll an thor ohioot i my invention is to p o d a ome. h r as; the. iriotional enga m n of. the, clutch sovornoo by the, speed or the driving A. fu th r ohioot i to provide a. device in w i two. or mora 1 units, man be driven at. vars t me. orolos on tho samo drivin unit.

A sti l farther ohioot oi my inve t on is t pro de. a dovioo. that is adaptahlafor many types of installations and than he usod for various urposes.

Th devic is oasihr anplied and assembled d a h mahuiaoturod at a nominal cost.

s manif st. annona familiar wi h t use of clutches driv n mechanisms, that it isoiten necessary to nrovido a. clutch thatwil l en: age gradually, any; that, ermit; the driven nit t b Pu into. narat-ion when. the pr p speed of. tho driving: has. been attained; The device specigad claimed; and. illustrated: ro n in orporates thoso esirabl a s, s mp n Coast .ionand: easy'to app y t ious it loci-rig; mounted to: the shaft. of the driving unit.

Other and further objects of my invention will become mQre apparent. as the description proceeds and when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which Figure 1 is a fragmentarycross-sectional view of the assembled dcyicg provided with a single driving disc shown out of" engagement with the driver-r pulley and showingthe starting arrangemerit. ou of en a emen Figu e. 2. is a. iragmentary cross-sectional view of th donor: asshownm Figural with t driving disc in engagement, withtho driven pulley; and with the. starting arrangement out or encas ment.

Figure 3' is. a fragmentarycross-sectional; View of the. device. as-shownin Figures 1 and 2 with the driving disc out of engagement with the driven pulley, but showing the starting arrangement in engagement with the driven pulley.

Figure 4 is a side view of the driven pulley showing the radially disposed starting grooves,

2 nd. sh wing a fragmentary view of the v belt ntactin a portion. of the p riph ral ro v of. the pulley.

Similar characters of reference indi ate corresponding parts throu hout the several views and referring now to the same Figure 1,. the h racter 10; shows a driving or actuating unit such as an internal combustion engine having a drive shaft H. There is a drive disc [2 having h b m mber t3 shown attached to the shaft- [-1- by means of a pin 14.1, but obviously a key or any her attachin means may be employed for the urn so- The out r periphery of the drive. disc 12 is provided withafiange l5. extending at right angle: to the face It of the disc; 12,. This face ii: s p vided with indentations H. tapered to the ntour of: a t ar. drop desi xtendin out;- wardly from a deep send-spherical contour to hoiaw. is of the disc f2. There is; an. auxiliary disc It fired. to rotate with, but; axially movable on th shaft. H. Tho disc. 18. is provided; with. a utch face. so made of animpregnated fabric r t k.-.o,. which may be. adhorently attached to h .fzaoo of; the. disc. l& or riveted thereto. The disc. 1.2. is. provided with a p rality of ap rtures.

' 0: to aooonrmodata outwardly extending pins; 2 l;

thr d d y in the auxiliary disc. Is at one nd and retained. in. n agement with a; plate .2: near th ir other and, by means or a threaded member or nut 23, against the; tension of the s l entmomh r 24 enga ing-:th p s 1'- Th s resilient,- members: 24 are disposed between the pl t 252; and: t e. disc. H2. The: plate 22. engages ho per phery of thohub) is: on the disc [-2.

Tho nner ace; of: the. auxiliary disc. l8 opp sito th face; supportingthe. impregnated fabric s IQQ SSfid. to'rooeive studs 21 which connect the dish [9. to, aringimornber 25. which istapered he sauna angle: as the indentation IT but? in ppos te relation. hereto, to.- aocomodate. a cor no n rnflmb r' i phorical members or balls 26, which; normally are; disposed in the. deepest part; oi; ih ndon ations lz'lare.- oausedto.

mor outward toward the.- periphory of the; discs; l2- and. I8: as tho. discs; are. revolved, and; as; the. lls; 2.6- mova outward they will cause, the discs; 12: and 48% to, spread. apart, creatingz contact or? the. face. 1.9: with the: outer face of the driven pulley shown as: 21- whichr is rotatably mounted to the shaft H: by means of the ball-bearing assembly 28. There is a V-type belt 29'' engaging the V-groove 30 extending around the periphery of the drive pulley 21.

From the description it is manifest that the shaft l I must rotate at a pre-determined number of revolutions per minute before the pulley 21 is driven, due to the contact of the face IS on the auxiliary disc [8. This contact is made due to the spreading of the discs l8 and 12 caused by the balls 26 forcing their way within the tapered indentations I! and against the ring 25.

The face of the pulley 21 is shown provided with a pair of arcuat grooves 3| which are deeper at the one point 32 and tapered upward in depths to a point 33 even into the face of the pulley 21. The arcuate grooves 3| are employed for the engagement of the pins 34 extending through the discs l8, l2 and 22. The outwardly extending ends of the pins 34 threadedly engage an engaging disc 35 and have outwardly extending flanges 36 which contact the inner face of the plate 22 due to the tension of a resilient member 31 encircling a rod 38 threadedly supported at 39 by the disc 35, and slidably engaging an aperture 40 in the end of the shaft H. When the driven pulley 21 is manually revolved by means of the belt 29 it acts as a driving force to start the actuating means. When the disc 35 is forced inward against the pressure of the resilient member 31, it permits the ends of the pins 34 to engage the circular grooves 3| at their deepest part 32 as shown in Fig. 3, and when the rotating speed of the shaft H increases it will disengage the endsof the pins 34 from the grooves 3! due to the tapered depth of the circular groove 3|, and the pins will move from their deep point 32 to the shallow point 33 as shown in Fig. 3, thereby permitting release of the pins 34, and the free revolution of the shaft l I, and as this revolving speed increases, it will again spread the discs 12 and l B by means of the balls 26 frictionally engaging the clutch surface [9 with the face of the pulley 21 as shown in Figure 2.

In the chosen embodiments of my invention there are present many features not heretofore disclosed in the prior art and although I have described specifically the component parts constituting the device I am fully cognizant of the fact that many changes may be made in the form and configuration of the parts without affecting their operativeness, the spirit of my invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is:

l. A clutch mechanism of the character described comprising, a driven shaft, a main disc rigidly mounted to said shaft, an auxiliary disc provided with a frictional contact member on its outer face, a driven pulley mounted on said shaft adjacent to said auxiliary disc, said main disc and auxiliary disc resiliently urged toward one another, said main disc provided with a plurality of semi-radial indentations tapered outward from their greater depth toward the periphery of said main disc, said auxiliary disc provided with a tapered annular ring in opposite relation to said indentations in the main disc, and a plurality of spherical members disposed for engagement with said indentations and held therein by means of said tapered ring, said spherical members moving outward toward the periphery of said discs when said discs are revolved, causing said auxiliary disc to move away from said main disc causing frictional contact of said auxiliary disc with said driven pulley,

2. A clutch mechanism of the character described comprising in combination, a driven shaft, an annular disc rigidly mounted to said shaft,

an auxiliary disc slidably mounted to said shaft, resilient means for urging said discs towards one another one of said discs having in its face a plurality of semi-radial indentations tapering from their deep part outward toward the periphery of said disc, the other disc provided with an annular tapered ring arranged in alignment with said indentations but in opposite angular relation thereto, a plurality of spherical balls corresponding in number to said indentations, said balls disposed within said indentations, thereby contacting the inner face of said main disc and the annular ring in said auxiliary disc, a contact member attached to the outer face of said auxiliary disc, a driven member rotatably mounted to said shaft adjacent to and spaced from the contact member on said auxiliary disc, the spherical balls within said indentations spreading said auxiliary disc away from said main disc for the engagement of its contact surface with said drive member due to the outward travel of said balls within said indentations caused by the centrifugal movement of said main disc.

3. A clutch mechanism of the character described comprising in combination, a driven shaft, an annular disc rigidly mounted to said shaft, an auxiliary disc slidably mounted to said shaft, resilient means for urging said discs towards one another one of said discs having on its face a plurality of semi-radial indentations tapering from their deep part outward toward the periphery of said disc, the other disc provided with an annular tapered ring arranged in alignment with said indentations and in opposite angle thereto, a plurality of spherical balls corresponding in number to said indentations, said balls disposed within said indentations thereby contacting the inner face of said main disc and face of said annular ring, in said auxiliary disc, a contact member attached to the outer face of said auxiliary disc, a driven member rotatably mounted to said shaft adjacent to and spaced from the contact member on said auxiliary disc, said driven member equipped on its face with a pair of arcuate grooves tapered outward from a low point to the surface of said member, a corresponding number of pins supported by said discs, said pins arranged for manual engagement at one end with said radial slots in said driven member, and resilient means for urging said pins out of engagement with said slots.

ARTHUR. W. WAGNER" References Cited in the file of this patent,

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 369,159 Burns Aug. 30, 1887 503,923 Wolf Aug. 22 1893 796,205 Graham et a1 Aug. 1, 1905v 1,842,320 Chryst Jan. 26 1932 1,922,931 Defays et al Aug. 15 193-3. 2,239,161 Wemp Apr. 22 1941 2,491,003 Elmore Dec. 131949 2,529,919 Cunningham Nov. 14, 195a 

